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FINDLAY, Ohio — A man who disappeared decades ago is finding out there’s no easy way to come
back from the dead.

Donald Miller Jr. went to court this week to ask a county judge to reverse a 1994 ruling that
declared him legally dead after he had vanished from his home eight years earlier. But the judge
turned down his request, citing a three-year time limit for changing a death ruling.

Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis called it a “strange, strange situation.”

“We’ve got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health,”
said Davis, who told Miller the three-year limit was clear.

“I don’t know where that leaves you, but you’re still deceased as far as the law is concerned,”
the judge said.

Miller resurfaced about eight years ago and went to court so that he could get a driver’s
license and reinstate his Social Security number.

His ex-wife had opposed the move, saying she doesn’t have the money to repay the Social Security
benefits that were paid out to her and the couple’s two children after Miller was declared
dead.

Robin Miller said her ex-husband vanished because he owed big child-support payments,
The Courier reported.

Donald Miller, 61, told the judge that he disappeared in the 1980s because he had lost his job
and he was an alcoholic. He lived in Florida and Georgia before returning to Ohio around 2005.

Miller’s attorney said he might be able to challenge the Social Security Administration in
federal court, but he does not have the financial resources to do so.